3. At Paris he was preceded and aided by his philosophical fame. His steady and downright character was a singularity which the accomplished diplomatists' of France had not learned how to conquer. The simplicity of a republican, a Presbyterian, and a printer, transported at the age of seventy to the most polished court of Europe, by amusing the frivolous and interesting the romantic, excited a disposition at Versailles favorable to his cause.

4. Early accustomed to contemplate infant societies and uncultivated nature, his mind was original and independent. He derived neither aid nor encumbrance from learning, which enslaves every mind not powerful to master and govern it. He was, therefore, exempt from those prejudices of nation and age which every learned education fosters. Reared in colonies struggling into existence, when necessity so often calls out ingenious contrivance, he adapted even philosophical experiment to the direct convenience of mankind.

5. The same spirit is still more conspicuous in his moral and political writings. An independence of thought, a constant and direct reference to utility, a consequent abstinence from whatever is merely curious and ornamental, or even remotely useful, a talent for ingeniously betraying vice and prejudice into an admission of reason, and for exhibiting their sophisms in that state of undisguised absurdity in which they are ludicrous, with a singular power of striking illustration from homely objects, would justify us in calling Franklin the American Socrates.-Life of Sir James Mackintosh.

Franklin and Washington.-Greeley.

1. I THINK I adequately appreciate the greatness of Washington; yet I must place Franklin above him as the consummate type and flowering of human nature under the skies of colonial America. Not that Washington was born to competence and all needful facilities for instruction, so that he began responsible life on vantage-ground that Franklin toiled twenty arduous, precious years to reach: I cannot feel that this fact has undue weight with me.

2. I realize that there are elements of dignity, of grandeur, in the character of Washington for which that of Franklin affords no parallel. But when I contemplate the immense variety and versatility of Franklin's services to his country and to mankind -when I think of him as a writer whose first effusions commanded attention in his early boyhood-as the monitor and teacher of his fellow-journeymen in a London printingoffice-as, almost from the outset, a prosperous and influential -editor, when journalism had never before been a source of power-as taking his place naturally at the head of the postal service in America, and of the earliest attempts to form a practical confederation of the colonies-when I see him, never an enthusiast, and now, nearly threescore-and-ten, renouncing office, hazarding fame, fortune, everything, to struggle for the independence of his country-he having most to lose by failure of any American-his only son a bitter loyalist—he cheerfully and repeatedly braving the dangers of an ocean swarming with enemies, to render his country the service as ambassador which no other man could perform—and finally, when more than eighty years old, crowning a life of duty and honor by helping to frame that immortal Constitution which made us one nation forever-I cannot place Franklin second to any other American.

3. He could not have done the work of Washington-no other man could; but then he did so many admirable things which Washington had too sound judgment even to attempt. And, great as Washington was, he was not great enough to write and print, after he had achieved power and world-wide fame, a frank, ingenuous confession of his youthful follies and sins, for the instruction and admonition of others. Many a man can look calmly down the throats of roaring cannon who lacks the courage and true philanthropy essential to those called to render this service to mankind.-Lecture on Self-Made Men.

Harmar's Expedition against the Indians.—In the summer of 1790 an Indian war was commenced by the tribes north of the Ohio. Washington at first used pacific means; but, these failing, he sent an expedition, under Gen. Harmar, against the hostile tribes. Harmar destroyed several of

their villages, but, in two battles, near the present village of Fort Wayne, Indiana, he was defeated with severe loss.

St. Clair's Expedition.—In the following year, St. Clair marched against the Indians; but, while encamped at a place in the western part of Ohio, he was surprised and defeated, with the loss of six hundred men. During the war, Kentucky, which had been previously claimed by Virginia, was admitted into the Union; and, in the same year, 1792, Washington was again elected president. Adams was also re-chosen vice-president.

Wayne's Expedition.—Gen. Wayne was finally sent against the Indians. In August, 1794, he met them near the rapids of the Mau-mee', and gained a complete victory. This success, followed up by vigorous measures, compelled the Indians to sue for peace; and, in 1795, a treaty was made at Greenville, Ohio, by which a large tract of territory was ceded to the United States.

Trouble with the French Minister.—When France, during her great revolution, declared war against England, a large part of the people of this country were in favor of helping their old ally of the Revolution. M. Genet (zhe-na), the French minister in the United States, presuming upon the feeling in favor of his country, began to fit out privateers in American ports to cruise against British vessels. Washington, deeming it best to preserve a position of strict neutrality between the two countries, demanded his recall, and another minister was sent in his place.

Whisky Insurrection.—The first measure adopted by the United States government for raising a revenue by internal taxation, was the law of 1791, imposing a duty on domestic liquors. It met with considerable opposition, especially in the Western part of Pennsylvania, where, in 1794, the resistance grew to an open rebellion, known as the Whisky Insurrection. Upon the approach of a force sent by Washington, the insurgents yielded.

Jay's Treaty.—It was not long after the making of the treaty of 1783, at the close of the Revolution, before the American and British governments began to accuse each other of violating its stipulations. To avert a war, which seemed inevitable, John Jay* was sent as a special envoy to England, where, in 1794, a treaty was made. This new treaty met with considerable opposition in the United States, because its provisions were regarded as being too favorable to the English; but it was at length ratified.

Washington's Successor.-Washington, having declined a nomination for a third term, John Adams was elected to succeed him; and the new president was inaugurated at Philadelphia, on the 4th of March, 1797. Washington then retired to the quietude of his home at Mount Vernon.†

* John Jay was born in the city of New York, in 1745. In 1789, when Washington became President of the United States, so exalted was his opinion of Jay's honesty and fitness, that he tendered him a choice of the offices in his gift. Jay preferred the bench, and, consequently, was the first ChiefJustice of the United States. His death occurred in 1829, at Bedford, Westchester Co., New York.

+ Mount Vernon, the home of Washington and the place of his burial, is situated on the western bank of the Potomac, fifteen miles below Washington city. The place, comprising the mansion, the tomb, and two hundred acres of the original estate, was sold, in 1858, by John A. Washington, a nephew of George Washington, to the "Ladies' Mount Vernon Association," for $200,000. “It is the design of the Association to hold it in perpetuity as a place of public resort and pilgrimage."

Washington at Mount Vernon.-Irving.

1. HIS official career being terminated, Washington set off for Mount Vernon, accompanied by Mrs. Washington, her grand-daughter Miss Nelly Custis, and George Washington Lafayette (son of the marquis), with his preceptors. Of the enthusiastic devotion manifested toward him wherever he passed, he takes the following brief and characteristic notice: "The attentions we met with on our journey were very flattering, and to some, whose minds are differently formed from mine, would have been highly relished; but I avoided, in every instance where I had any previous notice of the intention, and could, by earnest entreaties, prevail, all parade and escorts."

2. He is at length at Mount Vernon, that haven of repose to which he had so often turned a wistful eye, throughout his agitated and anxious life, and where he trusted to pass quietly and serenely the remainder of his days. He finds himself, however, "in the situation of a new beginner; almost everything about him required considerable repairs, and a house is immediately to be built for the reception and safe-keeping of his military, civil, and private papers." "In a word," writes he, "I am already surrounded by joiners, masons, and painters; and such is my anxiety to be out of their hands, that I have scarcely a room to put a friend into, or to sit in myself, without the music of hammers and the odoriferous" scent of paint."

3. Still he is at Mount Vernon; and, as the Spring opens, the rural beauties of the country exert their sweetening influence. In a letter to his friend Oliver Wolcott, who, as Secretary of the Treasury, was still acting on "the great theatre," he adverts but briefly to public affairs. "For myself," adds he, exultingly, "having turned aside from the broad walks of political into the narrow paths of private life, I shall leave it with those whose duty it is to consider subjects of this sort, and, as every good citizen ought to do, conform to whatsoever the ruling powers shall decide.

4. "To make and sell a little flour annually, to repair houses

going fast to ruin, to build one for the security of my papers of a public nature, and to amuse myself in agriculturalˇ and rural pursuits, will constitute employment for the few years I have to remain on this terrestrial' globe. If, also, I could now and then meet the friends I esteem, it would fill the measure, and add zest to my enjoyments; but, if ever this happens, it must be under my own vine and fig-tree, as I do not think it probable that I shall go beyond twenty miles from them."

5. And again, to another friend he indulges in pleasant anticipations: "Retired from noise myself and the responsibility attached to public employment, my hours will glide smoothly on. My best wishes, however, for the prosperity of our country will always have the first place in my thoughts; while to repair buildings and to cultivate my farms, which require close attention, will occupy the few years, perhaps days, I may be a sojourner here, as I am now in the sixty-fifth year of my peregrination through life."-Life of Washington.

The Retirement of Washington.-Guizot.

1. WASHINGTON did well to withdraw from public business. He had entered upon it at one of those moments, at once difficult and favorable, when nations, surrounded by perils, summon all their virtue and all their wisdom to surmount them. He was admirably suited to this position. He held the sentiments and opinions of his age without slavishness or fanaticism. The past, its institutions, its interests, its manners, inspired him with neither hatred nor regret. His thoughts and his ambition did not impatiently reach forward into the future. The society in the midst of which he lived, suited his tastes and his judgment. He had confidence in its principles and its destiny, but a confidence enlightened and qualified by an accurate, instinctive perception of the eternal principles of social order.

2. He served it with heartiness and independence, with that combination of faith and fear which is wisdom in the affairs of the world, as well as before God. On this account, especially, he was qualified to govern it; for democracy requires two things for its tranquillity and its success: it must feel itself to be